King Kong vs. Godzilla: A New Kind of Monster Fight

King Kong vs. Godzilla is one of the most influential kaiju films of all time. In some ways, it's the most influential. Sure, technically the original 1954 Gojira is, because without it, there would be no Godzilla sequels. (And if you want to go one step further, the original 1933 King Kong might be the most influential since it was the first cinematic giant monster movie, inspiring Godzilla to get made.) But 1962's King Kong vs. G is just as influential. For one thing, it gave Godzilla a personality. The previous two films had him just as the personification of the atomic bomb. Here we see his arrogant, loves-to-fight character. But the most influential aspect was the battle, namely the final battle between him and Kong. This introduced a new kind of fight style for kaiju films.

Yes, the previous film, Godzilla Raids Again had the first kaiju fight to grace the big screen. But it was basically just two animals going at it. To this day, no one quite remembers it as a series classic. The final battle in King Kong vs. Godzilla was the first kaiju movie to have two 'characters' duke it out. What I mean is that these weren't just overgrown animals fighting, they were thinking beings. Here's some examples: We have Kong, who literally grabs a tree and tries to shove it down Godzilla's throat. We have Godzilla, who literally jumps and double kicks Kong to the ground. We have Kong, who makes a strategy to hide from Godzilla and strikes at just the right moment. We have Godzilla, who claps his hands every time Kong gets knocked over. And then we have Kong, who back-flips Godzilla to the ground. Do you see what I'm talking about?

The fight as you can tell was fun. This is where Japanese kaiju battles get their inspiration from. This is what separates kaiju fights from American monster movies. Can you think of any American monster movie where it had a monster vs. monster fight as memorable as the one featured in King Kong vs. Godzilla? No, I didn't think so. Fast forward 45 years later, you can see in shows such as Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle  where the kaiju dance around, grapple, and laugh at each other. Where do you think this type of monster battling comes from? It all dates back to 1962. While the original Japanese version of the film isn't available outside of Japan, you can still experience the magic with the recent Blu-ray release of the American version. 52 years later, and that final battle is still one of the very best. 

King Kong Escapes Review

King Kong Escapes, like Frankenstein vs. Baragon, was a joint effort between Japan and America. Fresh off his battle with Godzilla, TOHO was eager to use Kong in another feature. This movie is unique in many ways. It has a rather small Japanese presence, since two of the main actors are American and it barely takes place in the city. (In fact, it only takes place in Tokyo in the exciting climax.) This would technically be the fourth ever King Kong movie. It's what you get when Director Ishiro Honda grabs the 1933 classic and remakes it Godzilla style.

The story starts out in a submarine. Two scientists are studying papers of a giant ape, known as the King Kong legend of Mondo Island. They didn't plan on going, but after an iceberg falls on the sub, they're forced to land there. Kong awakens to the screams of a woman about to gulped by a dinosaur called Gorosaurus. Later Kong heads to the city where he'll have to battle his mechanic double built by the evil Dr. Hu, Mechani Kong, Apparently this is based on an old cartoon called The King Kong Show. Not many people are going to know that unless they visit the Wiki. (Now I'm quite interested in that toon.) From the start with Akira Ifukube's familiar theme, you can tell this is going to be a good movie. It has heart, it's fun, and you never feel like you want it to end. It's pretty much everything Peter Jackson's remake wasn't.

The main characters are Commander Carl Nelson, Susan Watson, and Jiro Nomura. The first two are American, while the latter is Japanese portrayed by famous Godzilla actor Akira Takarada. Nelson is portrayed by Rhodes Reason. He's a pretty solid character people will like. The most interesting of the three is definitely Susan, portrayed by Linda Miller. Her child-like voice and demeanor was pretty unique, and sometimes unintentionally funny. (Try to hold back from laughing in when she shouts, "Kong! King Kong!") The relationship between her and the title character is established nicely. Dr. Hu, portrayed by Hideyo Amamoto, is the antagonist. His look is a bit cartoonish, (then again it is based on a cartoon) but he succeeds in being a pretty entertaining villain. One of his highlights is when he shoots down the native. The other 'villain' is Mandame Piranha, portrayed by Mie Hama. (She was in the 007 film, You Only Live Twice.) She is very interesting right from the start, being the true leader but later has a change of heart. She is definitely one of the best characters in the whole thing.

The interesting thing about King Kong is that he's not a villain at all and is very human-like. This being a TOHO kaiju movie, they know how to handle monsters whether they created them or not. Despite being a giant gorilla, Kong expresses great emotion, even more so than the human cast. Suitmation will always be able to show that better than CGI. Admittedly, the Kong suit isn't as good as the one featured in King Kong vs. Godzilla. The factor tying this into the Godzilla-verse is Gorosaurus. TOHO could have gone the easy route and just put in a generic Tyrannosaurus/Allosaurus/V-Rex like all the other Kong movies did, but they made their own monster. (Which then appeared a year in DESTROY ALL MONSTERS.) Gorosaurus just looks good and his 'kangaroo kick is pretty cool. The fight between him and Kong was definitely a highlight. It's a shame he didn't get to do anything after DESTROY ALL MONSTERS.

The main antagonist for King Kong however is Mechani Kong, a robot dublimate. It's a pretty fantastic creation, it looks amazing forty-six years later. The climax in the city with it and Kong was pretty exciting. And also without the Robot Kong it's quite possible we would have never gotten a Mechagodzilla! All of these scenes are accompanied by Akira Ifukube's wonderful soundtrack. One of the themes that plays throughout the film you'll recognize from the early Godzilla movies.

Overall, King Kong Escapes is definitely the most fun Kong movie. With good characters, a classic evil villain, and giant monster/robot fights, it's a must see for any kaiju or Kong fan.

4/5

The S.H. Monsterarts are Rolling Out

The SH Monsterarts line from Tamashii Nations is easily one of the greatest figure lines for Godzilla. Starting with the Heisei version of G two years ago, the line has pretty much covered the Heisei era. (The only ones without an announcement at the moment are Mothra, Battra, and Mecha King Ghidorah.) Last week another figure was unveiled, this time from the Showa era, Godzilla 1964.

This was pretty big. For quite a bit now fans have been wondering where would the Monsterarts go after the Heisei era. This figure seems to answer that question, the company is well on their way to the classic movies. In the meantime, we can look forward to my personal favorite figure coming up at the end of the month, Destoroyah.

Awesome, isn't it? We also have the the evolutionary set coming later in the year. (Destoroyah's aggregate and the long awaited Flying form.) We also have the first American monster, the Peter Jackson version of King Kong to look forward to.

But not too long ago, another hotly anticipated monster was unveiled. The thought of her getting a figure in this line was almost unthinkable.  Yes, her. She goes by the name of Biollante.

A couple of months ago this prototype was shown, mainly due to fans requesting her. That's right, the more people that post they want something made, the greater the chance. This prototype is an example of that. Many people kept requesting and it was made. Sadly since then there has been no info. She did get a mention in the latest issue of G-Fan, but that's it. So, once again, the fans must voice their desire to see her released. How? By going to Bluefin's Facebook page here. The more people that post, the greater that chance we'll see this rose of a kaiju sooner than later.

Stay tuned for my review of Destoroyah near the beginning of next month.

Happy 50th Anniversary King Kong vs. Godzilla!

What is the greatest movie crossover? Some may say Alien vs. Predator, some may say Freddy vs. Jason, but the truth of the matter is that King Kong vs. Godzilla stands above all cinematic crossovers. Some only know Kong from the Peter Jackson film of 2005, and some only know Godzilla as a giant iguana from the 1998 movie. Some don't even know this crossover exists! But that some is very few. King Kong vs. Godzilla may just be the most well-known Godzilla film in America, it still holds the record for highest grossing Godzilla film. (If we un-adjust inflation, Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth holds the record.) C'mon, it's Japan's premiere monster against America's premiere monster. (If only the Cloverfield monster could get a few more films.) Not everything was dandy though, this film does have some controversial origins. Originally this was going to be King Kong vs. Frankenstein. (Frankenstein had battled the Wolf Man, next step was King Kong.) The story by Willis O'Brian (the guy who animated Kong in the original 1933 film) was stolen and given to TOHO by John Beck, whom we know is responsible for the dub. TOHO replaced Frankenstein with their own monster and went on to make their most successful kaiju film to date. The original Japanese version to this day has still not been released in America, so many have not seen it. (I am part of that many sadly.) From what I know it's a satire of giant monster movies in general, and it was actually funny. When it was dubbed, Beck wanted to make it a 'straight up science fiction story.' The satire was removed and an attempt was made to make it into an adventure. What we got was a science fiction story with pretty bad dubbing comedy. While the dub is a complete joke, it's still magic when you see the two beasts fighting for the first and last time.

This film being a lot less serious than its two predecessors, the Godzilla suit was given a more cartoony-like look. Now don't think that's a bad thing, it's really quite awesome. Next to the GMK look, this one makes Godzilla look evil. In this film Godzilla was a complete jerk when it came to fighting. In their first encounter he was just laughing and clapping his hands and making Kong retreat thanks to his atomic breath. King Kong, well, as a kid I didn't really notice too much, but now I see how goofy the King Kong suit looks. There's no getting around it, it looks silly. But it's part of the film's charm. The final battle is what this film is known for. Unlike some vs. movies (any Asylum movie) where they wait until the final five minutes to show the two fighters battling it out and it ends up being disappointing, in King Kong vs. Godzilla the final fight is long and satisfying. America doesn't quite understand how to do giant monster fights like Japan does. Classic kaiju wrestling at its finest. King Kong is obviously no match for Godzilla, everyone seemed to know that, so they gave Godzilla a weakness against electricity just for the film, and made Kong stronger when struck by it. Godzilla was never without a doubt winning the whole time, easily outmatching Kong. Of course the biggest asset here was Godzilla's atomic radiation, whenever he struck Kong by it, the latter was like "The heck is this?" Meanwhile Godzilla is clapping at how futile the battle was. Godzilla even attempted burying Kong alive, and clapping while doing it! This is one of the few films where Godzilla is the definitive villain with his opponent being the good guy.

Originally the film was going to use stop motion animation, like with the original King Kong and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. Sadly (though suitmation is awesome in its own right) it would have been too costly. (Japanese movies tend to have smaller budgets than American films.) So the classic suitmation was done. However, some stop motion is found, such as the famous Godzilla double kick on Kong. Unlike in the previous two entries, the monsters became 'characters' in the fights. This is where the crazy kaiju fights originated from. Instead of being dark where "Oh man, whoever wins we're screwed" with the dramatic music playing, here is a fight you'll be smiling at the whole time. C'mon, Kong tries to shove a tree down Godzilla's throat, you don't see this stuff like that anywhere else.

When one mentions King Kong vs. Godzilla, the infamous ending rumor comes up. Obviously it's been known as fake for a long time, but still a fun thought. In the end, as much as Godzilla fans dislike it, King Kong won the battle. They both plummeted into the ocean, and moments later Kong rose up and started to leave and head back home in time for King Kong Escapes. A rumor that had originated from the magazine Spacemen had stated that in the Japanese version Godzilla had won. Once Americans were able to get a hold of the original version, the rumor was destroyed. Still, a fun thought. Godzilla was more powerful than Kong, it was only when the latter was powered up by electricity when the tide had turned.

King Kong vs. Godzilla came out in 1962, seven years after Godzilla battled Anguirus in Godzilla Raids Again. After the film's success, Godzilla became a profitable character again. While Gojira was immensely successful, Raids Again was poorly reviewed by fans and critics alike, and the monster was laid to rest as TOHO did other monster films such as Rodan and Mothra. But after King Kong vs. Godzilla, TOHO decided to start a franchise starring the title monster, he went on to crossover with Mothra and in the same year turned into a good guy and battled Ghidorah. So without King Kong vs. Godzilla, it is quite possible that there will have not been as many films we see today. (Imagine that!) On August 11th, 1962, Godzilla went on to battle King Kong for a battle of the ages, fifty years ago. It was on that day that Godzilla was defined as a character, and c'mon, it's the greatest crossover in the history of cinema!

Latest Figure Hauls: Bandai King Kong and Mechani Kong

Ebay can be a very controversial place sometimes. But often you can find some good buys in there. These two figures I've been wanting to buy for a long time, they're classics every collector should have. I had run into a few auctions from the seller that was selling these guys. He was selling a Godzilla 2000, Kamacuras, Godzilla Junior, among other cool Bandais. But what had caught my eye was the tagged Mechani Kong. Ever since watching King Kong Escapes, I was a huge fan of this guy. C'mon, a robot King Kong? He's just awesome. His figure also looked pretty fantastic, I've been wanting to buy him especially. Plus it featured the tag, it's hard to find the old Bandais with their tags at decent prices. I was going to go all-out for this bid, and it looked like for awhile it wasn't going to go too high. Then the seller listed a Bandai King Kong with the tag. I kept that under the watch list, I personally didn't think I was going to get that one also, since I've seen the tagged ones go for up to $200. (Not a joke, just look it up at Tempting Toys and Collectibles.) As the bids approached the end date, they hadn't reached too high of numbers. On Friday it was time to bid on the King Kong, which had gone up to about $55. At around the 35 second mark, I put a bid at $60, became the high bidder and put a max of $95. (That was my limit on both figures.) As the heart-racing seconds went by, the numbers went up to $86 at around the three second mark, and then zero. I won the tagged King Kong for $86. I was pretty impressed with myself, probably one of my best buys. Now here's the ironic part...later on in the Mechani Kong bid, it was up to $75. I was going to wait until the final five seconds to put a bid at $95, but apparently someone else had the same idea, cause at the final five second mark someone put a bid for $96, so I ended up losing the Mechani Kong. The ironic part is that the main point was to win Mechani with the King Kong only being a loose chance, but it ended up being the other way around. So that same night I glumly ordered a no-tagged one for $80. Glumness aside, it's truly great to have these guys. First off, King Kong.

You know, I've seen this guy in a lot of pictures online, I thought I wasn't going to be too impressed with it. It has proven me wrong, the figure is fantastic in person. I thought the two would be a little bigger, but it doesn't matter, the size is fine. My only minor complaint here is the eyes, it's all white with no pupils. It's like he belongs in GMK. According to pretty much everyone, the figure has a hairstyle very similar to Elvis Presley. Well they're definitely right, maybe Bandai had him in mind when molding the figure. And just cause I feel like bragging, here's the attached tag. (I think they should have put Kong on it instead of the jungle and lettering, maybe make a custom sticker for it too.)

Now for Mechani Kong.

The figure isn't mint condition since I bought it used, but it's in very good condition, and that's enough. There's really no complaints here, it matches his movie counterpart 100%. A fine figure. All in all, these guys were definitely worth the prices I got them for. Getting a tagged King Kong for $86 may be my second greatest figure buy right next to getting a tagged Gorosaurus for $70.

The cast from King Kong Escapes

King Kong vs. Godzilla!